World War I: US 36th Aero squadron, a Painted "Stars and Stripes" Insignia.

American, c.1918. A 48 star national flag insignia painted on the side of a 36th Aero Squadron plane, painted in grey, blue, red and white, the panel cut out and framed with three dog-tags of George Pyne and a newspaper clipping describing the painted panel; the panel with some light crackling, and a few abrasions, colors slightly faded. 520 x 800 mm (maximum dimensions).

A famous insignia used by many of the WWI US Aero squadrons to decorate the sides of their planes. The clipping enclosed with this panel explains that George Pyne recovered this panel after a plane accident during a display in early 1919. A plane from the 36th piloted by Lieutenant Cowley came down during an air display, and George Pyne who was watching rushed out and cut the insignia from the burning wreckage as a souvenir. The clipping goes on to say that Deputy Sheriff George Pyne, thought he had lost the panel, but in the early 1930s found it behind a filing cabinet in his office, and retold his story to the Press, posing with this painted insignia in the article.

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